David Bailey’s Black-and-White Celebrity Portraits

Everyone who was anyone in 1960s London wanted to be photographed by David Bailey.

English fashion and celebrity photographer David Bailey started his career as an assistant to the John French studio and was eventually recruited by British Vogue. This launched Bailey to stardom, allowing him to capture the who’s who of Swinging London in the 1960s, including artists like Mick Jagger and The Beatles. Bailey also shot album covers, including those for The Rolling Stones and Marianne Faithfull. (David Hemmings’ character in Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Blowup was inspired by Bailey, if that gives you any idea about his status.)

Bailey’s work stood out by trading the time period’s psychedelic landscape for moody black and white. The photographer just celebrated his 80th birthday last month, so we’ve collected a few of his most expressive portraits.